In response to the statement released by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) on Thursday regarding the GFA’s decision to award Ghana Premier League (GPL) television rights to StarTimes, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has released an official statement to debunk all claims of the GBC, explaining details of what transpired between the pair during the bidding process.
According to the GFA, the GBC’s bid comprises of clauses which the body finds unfavourable and non profitable as the GBC in its bid, demanded 20% of the total amount of any title sponosorship deal the FA may secure for the league.
Below is the full statement by the GFA:
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has taken note of a statement by
the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) on the Television Broadcast
Rights granted to StarTimes by the GFA, at the end of the bidding
process.
The GFA is shocked by the deliberate misinformation in the statement and wishes to respond with the facts as follows:
1. On December 5, 2019, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) issued a
statement to invite bids from media organisations for television
broadcast rights for its competitions or any combination of its
competitions. (Premier League, Division One League, Women’s Premier
League, FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup).
2. The deadline for submission of bid was 5 p.m. on Tuesday December 10, 2019.
3. At the end of the bid deadline, GBC had submitted two different bids:
a. The first bid was for Free To Air TV – Exclusive Media Rights,
Digital Rights and Radio Rights for the territory of Ghana for 4 years
at a proposed fee of GHc8,800,000 (GHc 2,200.000 per season) for all the
five GFA Competitions named above.
b. The second bid was for Exclusive Media Rights for Ghana and Global
for 4 years at a proposed fee of GH 10,200,000 (GH 2,550.000 per
season) and a fee of GH 200,000 for radio (GH 50,000 per season) for all
the five competitions.
4. The GBC bid also had conditions attached to the bid, among them a
revenue share on any Title Sponsorship that the GFA secured for its
competitions (GBC wanted 20% share).
5. The GFA Bid Evaluation Team had a meeting with GBC and informed
them that none of the two bids they submitted met the valuation of the
GFA. At that same meeting, GBC was told they were 3rd in the GFA’s
valuation. However, the GFA, in light of that, has made the highlights
of the Ghana Premier League and the FA Cup non exclusive in order for
GBC to benefit from it.
6. It was at this meeting that GBC representatives indicated that they would consult their bosses and revert to the GFA.
7. On January 2, 2020, GBC emailed a 3rd and 4th bids (note that
these were long after the deadline of the bidding period which ended at 5
p.m. on December 10, 2019). The late bid were as follows:
a. The third bid (out of time) was for Exclusive FTA and Digital
Rights for Ghana and Global for four (4) years for a proposed fee of GH
12,000,000 (GH 3,000,000 per season) for all five GFA competitions with
condition to have a share in GFA Title Sponsorship (30% for GBC).
b. The 4th bid (out of time) was for an exclusive television and
digital rights for Ghana and Global for 4 years for GH 25,080,000 (GH
6,270,000 per season) for Ghana Premier League and FA Cup with a
condition to have a share of Title Sponsorship if the GFA secured one
(30% share for GBC).
8. It must be stated unequivocally that evaluation of bids is not
only about the financials but includes all conditions, such as those GBC
stated in their proposal, such as the 30% share GBC wanted on all Title
Sponsorships.
9. Of utmost importance is the fact that the net value of the bid of
GBC was actually lower than the amount quoted in the bid because of the
proposed revenue share of Title Sponsorship (eg. should we activate that
clause on the MTN FA Cup Title Sponsorship amount).
10. It must be stated clearly that even if only financials alone were
considered, the 4th bid of GBC (which was out of time) was not the bid
with the highest financial consideration. Two other proposals were
higher than the GBC bids but other conditions (due diligence) affected
those bids.
11. The GFA, having gone out of its way to make the highlights show
non-exclusive for the benefit of all television stations, does not
deserve the deliberate misinformation issued by GBC.
12. In conclusion, the GFA wishes to assure its members and all
stakeholders that the evaluation conducted on the bid was very thorough
and was strictly in compliance with the deadline issued to the Ghanaian
public and the world at large.
